as, and never will be, effected except by means of a religion,
and a religion, to be final, must include a harmonious synthesis of
all our conceptions of the external order of the universe. The
characteristic basis of a religion is the existence of a Power without
us, so superior to ourselves as to command the complete submission of
our whole life. This basis is to be found in the Positive stage, in
Humanity, past, present, and to come, conceived as the Great Being.

A deeper study of the great universal order reveals to us at
length the ruling power within it of the true Great Being, whose
destiny it is to bring that order continually to perfection by
constantly conforming to its laws, and which thus best represents
to us that system as a whole. This undeniable Providence, the
supreme dispenser of our destinies, becomes in the natural course
the common centre of our affections, our thoughts, and our
actions. Although this Great Being evidently exceeds the utmost
strength of any, even of any collective, human force, its
necessary constitution and its peculiar function endow it with
the truest sympathy towards all its servants. The least amongst
us can and ought constantly to aspire to maintain and even to
improve this Being. This natural object of all our activity, both
public and private, determines the true general character of the
rest of our existence, whether in feeling or in thought; which
must be devoted to love, and to know, in order rightly to serve,
our Providence, by a wise use of all the means which it furnishes
to us. Reciprocally this continued service, while strengthening
our true unity, renders us at once both happier and better.

The exaltation of Humanity into the throne occupied by the Supreme
Being under monotheistic systems made all the rest of Comte's
construction easy enough. Utility remains the test of every
institution, impulse, act; his fabric becomes substantially an arch of
utilitarian propositions, with an artificial Great Being inserted at
the top to keep them in their place. The Comtist system is
utilitarianism crowned by a fantastic decoration. Translated into the
plainest English, the position is as follows: 'Society can only be
regenerated by the greater subordination of politics to morals, by the
moralisation of capital, by the renovation of the family, by a higher
conception of marriage, an